a's

mmy, and I couldn't shake off the feeling of Dante's eyes following me even though I knew

part of me didn't want to know, but the other part-the part which would not take this ni

pinning. The more time I spent here, the suffocated I felt. It wasn't just Dante-it was this whole place,

ed a w

nning to realize just how trapped I was. The woman had been rig

avenue of possible escape. I needed to find a way out of this place

he guards I'd seen when I first arrived weren't the only security; there were cameras everywhere, men who seemed to blend in

but the mafia-the head of one of the most powerful crime famil

ate, but Dante really wasn't the type that would listen to a sob story plea fo

es. I was out of options. My body shook, a mixtur

e rest of my life under his control, used for some twisted pl

oor had disrupted

to ice; my hear

vier and more insistent. "Elena," a de

d to answer. I didn't have a choice. Rel

his hands clasped behind his back. He gave me a c

"Now?" He nodded

What good would that do? Luca was not the type to take no for an answer, and even if I di

all as a heavy feeling washed ov

-

silence or how things sat around and had been placed so precisely without anything out of o

e came to a last pair of doors of this type. Witho

k and modern, bathed in the soft glow of afternoon sun filtering through the floor-to-

nce hanging in the air, like the stillness before the s

king the stillness. He didn't t

elt wrong, like a trap was being sprung. But then, too, it seemed there wasn't

was something unnerving about the way he looked at me-like he

moving to sit behind the des

what to say. "I didn't thi

e. "You always have a choice, Elena. It's jus

What was I suppos

air, watching me. "Do yo

to you," I said, my vo

of Victor, but he said nothing. "Ye

my mind was swamped wit

was drowning in it. "Because I need someone I can co

, digging my fingernails into my skin.

sh. "It will be you. You'

oiling. "I'm not some pawn in your game

the bite of his tone si

wished to scream at him now-to scream back at him and say he didn't have any right to run

il he stood directly in front of me. His presence

eyes boring into mine. "That's go

y throat tight. "I'

n that little, almost amu

but there was nowhere to go. I was trapped in every possible way-in this

w, deadly undertone. "You'll learn, Elena. You'll learn that in

This wasn't just being forced into a marriage I didn't want; this was about

ed and walked from the room, lea